Mechanical toy.



M. OEHLER. MECHANICAL TOY. lAPPLICATION FILED JULYIS, |914.

Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

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MAX OEHLER, or americani), IDAHO.

faussement rovi Y Application led July 18,

T0 all whom z't may concern Y Be it known that I, MAX OEHLER, a citizenof the United States, and residing at Richfield, in the county ofLincoln and State of Idaho, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Mechanical Toys," of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to toys, and more particularly, to mechanical orwalking toys.

One of the objects of this invention is, to provide a novel toy whichwill travel on an inclined plane Aby gravity, without any other means ofpropulsion.

Other objects are, to provide a device whichV is simple inlconstruction,cheap to manufacture, which consists of a few parts, and which will notget out of order.

.Further objects will appear from the detail description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure is is a side elevation, partly in sectionfillustrating anembodiment of this invention. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2 2, Fig.1, and, Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3--3, Fig. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, 10 designates a body which may beformed to resemble any suitable animal. This body '1s provided with aseries of legs, inthis case four, designated 11, 12,` 13 and 14. Theforward legs 11-and 12 are .attached to wire supports 15 and 16 whichpass through slots 17 and 18 in the body and are pivoted on a cross pin19 at the upper end of the body. The supports 15 and 16 converge afterthey enter the body, so that their pivotal points will be close togethertransversely of the body and nea-r the medial line, as shown in Fig. 3.The rear legs 13 and 14 have supports 20 and 21 which pass through slots22 and 23 in the lower wally of the body and are`pivoted to a cross pin24 in the upper end of the body. The supports, in this case, are of thesame form as the supports 15 and 16 shown in Fig. 3, and their pivotalpoints are also arranged close together. The legs are thus pivoted inpairs at the forward and rear ends of the body, so as to swing freelyforwardly and backwardly with respect to the body, and these legs arepreferably weighted with metal. The parts are so constructed that whenthe toy sets on anl inclined plane 25, as shown in Fig. 1, the frontlegs 11 and 12 will tend to swing forwardly by gravity to a verticalposition until arrested by the ends of the slots. The rear Speccation cfLetters Patent.

Patented Apr. 20, 1915. 1914. serian no. 851,710.

legs 13 and 14 also tend to swing forwardly by gravity in the samemanner.

It will be noted that the pivotal connections of the legs to the bodyare near the top of the body and, therefore, considerably above itscenter of gravity. It will also be noted that, in view of the fact thatthe pivotal connections are placed close together transversely of thebody, the pivotal connections will be, in fact, nearly directly over thecenter of gravity of the body. If, therefore, the body is moved to theright and left sidewise, this body will begin to oscillate on the lowerends of the legs, so as to cause first the legson the right side to beraised from the Asupporting surface while the body is supported on thevleft side, and then cause the legs on the left side to be raised whilethe body is .supported by the legs on the right side. This toy will walkwith distinct steps in the following manner.

Referring to the position of the parts, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3,with the body resting on .the legs on the left side, and with these legsback so that their supports will engage the rear ends of the slots, thelegs 12 and y14, being now raised, will be moved forwardly by gravityuntil arrested by the forward ends of the slots. The body will now turnover to the right until it rests on the right legs, 12 and 14 while theleft legs 11 and 13 are raised. This will cause the body to moveforwardly on the right legs 12 and 14 to the position shown in dottedlines. Fig. 1, while the left legs 11 and 13, which are now raised, willmove forwardly by gravity to the positions shown in dotted lines,Fig. 1. The body will then oscillate again to the left so as to cause itto be supported by the legs 11 and 13, and it will move forwardlythereon, while the legs 12 and 14, which have been raised from thesurface, will move forwardly by gravity. The oscilla tions of the devicewill thus be analogous to those of a ballistic pendulum having aplurality df points of suspension. The body will first .oscillate' backand'forth on one pair of legs untilV the other pair strike, andI thenback and forth on the other pair. Such oscillations on two distinctcenters will not only be more sustained, but will be more uniform thanby having the bottoms of the legs ity ofthe oscillating body be belowthe pivotal points of attachment of'the legs. It will thus be seen thatthe figure walks with distinct steps down the incline, this walkingaction being accomplished by gravity alone. The body will oscillate asit moves down the incline, and it is not even necessary to give it astart. Moreover, the lateral oscillating movement is kept up by gravityin the same manner that a pendulum is oscillated. This is brought aboutby pivoting the body to the legs above the center of -gravity of thebody, and by bringing the pivotal points close together and practicallyin the medial line of the body and above its center of gravity.

It is obvious that various changes may be made in detailsoffconstru'ction without departing from the spirit of thissinvention,and it is, therefore, to beunderstood that this invention is n otto belimited to the specific construction described and shown.

Having thus described the invention,

what is claimed is:

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1. A toy comprising a body, a pair of legs pivoted to the forwardend ofsaid body, and a pair of legs pivoted to the rear end of said body, saidlegs being constructed and arranged on said body for free forward andbackward movement with respect to said body, the ends o f said legsforming distinct centers of oscillation, and said body being adapted tooscillate laterally about the ends of the legs, whereby said legs. arecaused to move by gravity to simulate an animal in walking. l

2. A toy comprising a body, pairs of legs pivoted to the forward andrear ends of sald body and above its center' of gravity and 'adapted forfree forward an backward movement with respect to said body, the ends ofsaid legs forming distinctcenters of oscillation, and said body beingadapted to oscillate transversely. on the ends of said legs, wherebysaid legs are caused to move by gravity to simulate an animal inwalking. v

3. A toy comprising a body, pairs of legs pivoted to the forward andrear ends of said A body and adapted for free forward and backwardmovement with respect to said body, the pivotal ends of the legs of apair being' closer together than the lower ends thereof, and said bodybeing adapted to os,- cillate transversely on the lower ends of saidv onthe lower ends of said legs, whereby said legs are caused to move bygravity to simulate an animal in walking..

v`5. A toy comprising a body, pairs of legs pivoted to the forward andrear ends of said body and above its center of gravity. and adapted forfree forward and backward movement with respect to said body, thepivotal ends of the legs of a pair bein closer together than the lowerends thereo the ends of said legs forming distinct centers ofoscillation and said body being adapted to oscillate transversely on theends of. said legs, whereby said legs are caused tomove by gravity tosimulate an animal in walkmg.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

MAX OEHLER. -Witnesses:

A. L. FLETCHER, M. E. BAILEY.

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